Marston's pub giant and brewery has reported preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 1 October 2016.
The company saw underlying revenue stand at £905.8m, a like-for-like rise of 7%, and statutory revenue come to £937.3m, up by 7%.
The firm's operating underlying profit rose by 4% to £172.7m, and statutory operating profit stood at £163.9m, up 44%. Underlying Profit before tax came to £98.0m, up by 7%, and statutory profit stood at £80.8m, up 158%.
The average profit per pub rose by 8% in 2016, and is up around 50% since 2012.
In the period, 22 new pubs and bars were completed, creating around 1,000 jobs. Six lodges opened, taking the estate to over 950 rooms.
Like-for-like sales were up by 2.3% in Destination and Premium sites , and up 2.7% in Taverns. The Leased sites saw an average profit per pub uplift of 3%
In Brewing, the strong brand portfolio continued to outperform market with volumes up 13%. Market share increased to 27% of premium bottled ale and 20% of premium cask ale markets.
During the period, Thwaites' beer business has been fully integrated and achieving targets.
The group aims to open at least 20 new-build pub-restaurants in the coming year, including 3 Revere bars and 5-10 lodges, weighted towards the second half
There will be a continued focus on premium and craft beer to drive growth, energized branding of Marston's beer brands and development of DE14 craft micro-brewery.
CEO Ralph Findlay (pictured) said, 'We have delivered another year of good growth across the business, with the outstanding performance of our beer company particularly encouraging.
'Trading has been solid in the first few weeks of the new financial year and we have seen no discernible change to the trends experienced in 2016. The majority of our major product cost lines are contracted for 2017 and well into 2018.
'We have a high quality pub and beer business which is displaying positive momentum and is consistently outperforming the market. We believe that, despite some continuing market headwinds, our expansion plans for new pub-restaurants, lodges and Revere bars will further enhance our ability to deliver attractive returns.'